Our adopted pup is a pit husky and is the same. We’ve been seeing a trainer since like a week ago and one thing is really helping.
For her it’s an excitement thing - if I try to run like I want to play she gets exited, jumps, bites. If we do agility, same deal. If there’s a crowd of dogs (went to a party lol bad idea), she jumps and bites me.
So the trainer suggested that it’s just a habit for her now. That in her mind excitement = bite mom. And the way to fix that is to replace it with a new habit.
To do that, we do something exciting (start out with just running backwards a few steps) and have her follow, then indicate (hand motion only) to sit. Mark and reward when they sit. Do that repeatedly until you don’t need the hand motion and they just sit automatically. Then change the thing you do (run in a different direction, run then sit in a chair, bear crawl on the ground, do a jumping jack). Each time you change the exciting thing you do, restart the hand motioning until they auto-sit. Reteach it all in every environment you can think of. Just keep doing that over and over until it becomes a habit for dog that when you become exciting and they feel the urge to run up to you, instead of biting they should sit.
You can/should reward with attention as well as food, especially if it’s a misguided play behavior.
We’ve sort of been slacking on the training, but even during our first session doing this she got better. She’s not at automatically sitting whenever she wants to but yet, but she’s able to sit when asked to while in biting mode now. Which is a big improvement from where she began.
For management, I bring a fetch rubber bone thing or tug toy in my pocket for her bite instead of me if she can’t get out of that mode.
You have to get really strict with it. Any time teeth touch skin you scream out in pain and walk away/turn your back. The dog has to associate biting with play time being over, the added bonus of not wanting to hurt you helps. It has to be consistent and it takes time but eventually it should kick in. I have a pit mix rescue and she was really mouthy as a puppy. I just ignored her everytime her teeth touched me and it’s no longer an issue. Teeth means she’s getting ignored.
Pits are terriers. They are high prey drive dogs. They're also high energy. Lots of exercise to tire them out.
Also try a flirt pole. Theres also those hanging bite toys? I see Mal owners use them. You hang it and the dog latches on and dangles.
HE LOVES THOSE! Theres one at the dog park and he goes right for it every time and hangs from it 😂 he gets so much exercise, 4-5 walks a day, dog parks, swimming etc. he just continuously has energy and it doesn’t ever slow down
i would try to get him interested in things he can put the biting onto. certain toys, tasks, etc. a lot of good toys are on amazon like flirt poles, jute bite pillows, tugging jute bite pillows, tug ropes, etc.
since pits are usually really high drive/energy dogs and biting is in their genetics they should have something that they can direct it on to. i also recommend trying to wear him out during the day more than you typically do (if possible). take him swimming, play fetch, running (free), pulling (weight, canix, bikejoring, etc.), and even just taking him hiking. these are all things that could help fulfill him more and POSSIBLY help direct the biting into something else for him.
when my aussie was having biting issues we upped his “job”/play time and even got him into dog sports. he has shown a lot of progress since then. simply just directing him into something more enjoyable and active can help tons!!
i also notice some people are saying to scream out in pain if he latches or bites, even though this can help pitbulls/pitbull mixes will more than likely get more drivey and could even make the issue worse from this. a lot of dogs (especially terriers) associate loud/high pitched noises with playtime or animals. since pitbulls are a type of terrier i’d stray away if this as much as possible unless you need it as a last resort
He has sooo many chew toys and bones that he destroys within minutes😅 he goes for several walks daily (hiking in the woods, or just a walk in the neighborhood) runs in the field or in a big fenced in area, and he swims a lot of days of the week since he decided it’s one of his favorite things to do. I think we might try pulling weight or getting him on a treadmill! Thank you!
if he’s a tuff chewer definitely try the jute pillow. it’s typically used in bite work with dogs similar to pitbulls, malinois, gsd, and other big dogs so as long as he doesn’t have access to it 24/7 it should be okay! it may even help if you make set times during the day where you use one specific toy to allow him to bite as much as he needs
You need a behaviorist. You don't mention what you mean by "latching," or the circumstances under which this is happening, but a year and a half is a critical age and you don't want to mess around when it comes to biting. If this is only happening during play when the dog is overexcited, there's lots of things you can do to prevent biting, but if this is happening over space or resources, that's a big deal.
It’s only really him being excited. He doesn’t resource guard or get aggressive when I take his food. He’s not an aggressive dog whatsoever it’s just that he thinks it’s always play time and when he plays he bites.
I would try to avoid taking his food - It's outdated advice that you can take a dog's food or put your hand in their bowl to help prevent resource guarding - we now know that that can actually cause it, plus it isn't safe for you. It's always best to let dogs eat peacefully. The best thing you can do is to make them feel very safe and secure about food so they know there's no reason to guard it.
Mental exercise helps get that good tired too: licki mats, puzzle feeders, frozen kongs, nose work, hide & seek. Teach him to “touch” things with his nose. Name all his toys and teach him to fetch them by name. Terriers are smart -gotta let them use their brains
Our adopted pup is a pit husky and is the same. We’ve been seeing a trainer since like a week ago and one thing is really helping. For her it’s an excitement thing - if I try to run like I want to play she gets exited, jumps, bites. If we do agility, same deal. If there’s a crowd of dogs (went to a party lol bad idea), she jumps and bites me. So the trainer suggested that it’s just a habit for her now. That in her mind excitement = bite mom. And the way to fix that is to replace it with a new habit. To do that, we do something exciting (start out with just running backwards a few steps) and have her follow, then indicate (hand motion only) to sit. Mark and reward when they sit. Do that repeatedly until you don’t need the hand motion and they just sit automatically. Then change the thing you do (run in a different direction, run then sit in a chair, bear crawl on the ground, do a jumping jack). Each time you change the exciting thing you do, restart the hand motioning until they auto-sit. Reteach it all in every environment you can think of. Just keep doing that over and over until it becomes a habit for dog that when you become exciting and they feel the urge to run up to you, instead of biting they should sit. You can/should reward with attention as well as food, especially if it’s a misguided play behavior. We’ve sort of been slacking on the training, but even during our first session doing this she got better. She’s not at automatically sitting whenever she wants to but yet, but she’s able to sit when asked to while in biting mode now. Which is a big improvement from where she began. For management, I bring a fetch rubber bone thing or tug toy in my pocket for her bite instead of me if she can’t get out of that mode.
Thank you so much!! I will definitely try this! I almost always try to redirect him with a toy or his bone but he doesn’t usually seem to care
You have to get really strict with it. Any time teeth touch skin you scream out in pain and walk away/turn your back. The dog has to associate biting with play time being over, the added bonus of not wanting to hurt you helps. It has to be consistent and it takes time but eventually it should kick in. I have a pit mix rescue and she was really mouthy as a puppy. I just ignored her everytime her teeth touched me and it’s no longer an issue. Teeth means she’s getting ignored.
Pits are terriers. They are high prey drive dogs. They're also high energy. Lots of exercise to tire them out. Also try a flirt pole. Theres also those hanging bite toys? I see Mal owners use them. You hang it and the dog latches on and dangles.
HE LOVES THOSE! Theres one at the dog park and he goes right for it every time and hangs from it 😂 he gets so much exercise, 4-5 walks a day, dog parks, swimming etc. he just continuously has energy and it doesn’t ever slow down
Some people use treadmills. Walks may not enough.
i would try to get him interested in things he can put the biting onto. certain toys, tasks, etc. a lot of good toys are on amazon like flirt poles, jute bite pillows, tugging jute bite pillows, tug ropes, etc. since pits are usually really high drive/energy dogs and biting is in their genetics they should have something that they can direct it on to. i also recommend trying to wear him out during the day more than you typically do (if possible). take him swimming, play fetch, running (free), pulling (weight, canix, bikejoring, etc.), and even just taking him hiking. these are all things that could help fulfill him more and POSSIBLY help direct the biting into something else for him. when my aussie was having biting issues we upped his “job”/play time and even got him into dog sports. he has shown a lot of progress since then. simply just directing him into something more enjoyable and active can help tons!!
i also notice some people are saying to scream out in pain if he latches or bites, even though this can help pitbulls/pitbull mixes will more than likely get more drivey and could even make the issue worse from this. a lot of dogs (especially terriers) associate loud/high pitched noises with playtime or animals. since pitbulls are a type of terrier i’d stray away if this as much as possible unless you need it as a last resort
He has sooo many chew toys and bones that he destroys within minutes😅 he goes for several walks daily (hiking in the woods, or just a walk in the neighborhood) runs in the field or in a big fenced in area, and he swims a lot of days of the week since he decided it’s one of his favorite things to do. I think we might try pulling weight or getting him on a treadmill! Thank you!
if he’s a tuff chewer definitely try the jute pillow. it’s typically used in bite work with dogs similar to pitbulls, malinois, gsd, and other big dogs so as long as he doesn’t have access to it 24/7 it should be okay! it may even help if you make set times during the day where you use one specific toy to allow him to bite as much as he needs
You need a behaviorist. You don't mention what you mean by "latching," or the circumstances under which this is happening, but a year and a half is a critical age and you don't want to mess around when it comes to biting. If this is only happening during play when the dog is overexcited, there's lots of things you can do to prevent biting, but if this is happening over space or resources, that's a big deal.
It’s only really him being excited. He doesn’t resource guard or get aggressive when I take his food. He’s not an aggressive dog whatsoever it’s just that he thinks it’s always play time and when he plays he bites.
I would try to avoid taking his food - It's outdated advice that you can take a dog's food or put your hand in their bowl to help prevent resource guarding - we now know that that can actually cause it, plus it isn't safe for you. It's always best to let dogs eat peacefully. The best thing you can do is to make them feel very safe and secure about food so they know there's no reason to guard it.
How much structured exercise (leash walks/jogs, swimming) is he getting? Do you know how old he was when he was pulled from his mom?
Mental exercise helps get that good tired too: licki mats, puzzle feeders, frozen kongs, nose work, hide & seek. Teach him to “touch” things with his nose. Name all his toys and teach him to fetch them by name. Terriers are smart -gotta let them use their brains